A New Track For Montreal?

"Our vision, if you will - we have adopted a five-year strategic plan - is to have 50 races in the Montreal area at our prime track

and if we can convince the Quebec authorities to continue to use the hippodrome but use it as a multi-purpose site, we would like to do 20 programs at Quebec City so we'll basically have 70 programs and have as high a purse level as we can as a function of the betting revenue."

On today's Trot Radio, Quebec Jockey Club President Tony Infilise discusses the season that was in Quebec, which from all accounts is considered a success.

"The Internet betting has surpassed our expectations, we're operating at around 25, 26 million per year and we're very comfortable that will increase. I mean there's a long way to go, Quebec used to bet between $150 and $200 million on horse racing and we're very confident that also with some new technology and some new options that were not available to our predecessors, we can continue to strive forward and grow the betting revenue and have that as our primary source of revenue."

Infilise continued to impress the need for a track around Montreal.

"At the heart of the Jockey Club's mandate is to build a new racetrack in the Greater Montreal area. Getting a higher betting revenue is critical for that, but also critical is to have a multi-purpose venue where we can have attractions that are difficult to put on at the Bell Centre or other smaller venues - something built in an amphitheatre style, where we can have many other events besides harness racing because without the VLTs, having a large number of race days is not likely."

Episode 159 – Quebec Jockey Club President Tony Infilise

Audio Format: MP3 audio

Host: Norm Borg